Occupational Safety and Health Administration - Essay Example

In 1960, almost 14,000 workers were dying on the job every year. Work related injuries had risen 20 percent, and one man was not going to settle for this. New Jersey Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr. spoke out against this horrible work standard, and Representative William A. Steiger pushed for a bill in the House. On December 29, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which set up the OSHA to govern health and safety standards within the work environment.

The mission of the OSHA is to make sure all workers are safe, and that the conditions of the work place are as well. They do this by enforcing standards, as well as training on how to keep work places safe for all employees. The OSHA was charged with this mission to assure safe working conditions for all men and women. It happened in part because of the public outcry against on the job injuries and deaths, and has grown tremendously in the past thirty years.Today, the course of the OSHA has changed a little bit.

In the current decade, the OSHA has changed some of its focus points. This "New OSHA" has now "focused on reducing red tape, streamlining standard setting, and inspecting workplaces that most needed help in protecting employees. The emphasis was on results." It began to reshape itself as an organization, and to improve the way in which it was able to carry out its mission.Currently, OSHA has 2100 inspectors, plus all the various other technical support that it requires to keep up the high work standards it enforces.

The OSHA has over 200 offices across the country, and uses the available staff to help work places adhere to the strict standards and work codes that the OSHA puts forward. Its 2006 budget was 467 million, recommended with an increase of 2.8 million from the previous year by President Bush.One of OSHA's major advocates is Edwin G. Foulke Jr, the Assistant Sectary of Labor for the organization. Foulke has given many speeches recently on behalf of the organization, and is constantly working to improve how well the organization does what it does best.

Even today OSHA is met with new challenges and problems to overcome. OSHA is working to expand its grant program, to try to offer the same support for non-profit organizations that originally would not fall under the rule of the OSHA. The OSHA is also working to help keep the organization up-to-date technology wise, for example it is using its website to spread information faster and much more efficiently. Nearly 1.4 million people visit the site monthly, helping what information the OSHA needs to travel quickly.

It has also been working against the pandemic flu, and has strongly been pressing to help prevent an outbreak in the workplace.All information on the OSHA can be found at www.osha.gov. The website gives all the history, background, and mission information, as well as up to date and current news and OSHA focus points.